1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a polymerized toner and a method of producing the polymerized toner. More specifically, the present invention relates to a polymerized toner whose cores contain a wax having a narrow molecular weight distribution.
2. Description of the Related Art
Toners are used for the development of electrophotographic images and in electrostatic printers, copiers, etc. Toners refer to coating substances that can be transferred and fixed to substrates to form desired patterns on the substrates. As computer-aided documentation has been generalized in recent years, there has been a rapidly increasing demand for image forming apparatuses, such as printers. In response to this demand, the use of toners is also on the rise.
Methods for the production of toners are largely classified into two types, i.e. methods based on pulverization and polymerization. The first type of methods based on pulverization is most widely known. According to a typical toner production method based on pulverization, a resin and a pigment are melt-mixed or extruded, pulverized and classified to obtain toner particles. However, the toner particles have a broad particle diameter distribution and are very irregular in shape (e.g., sharp-edged), which are disadvantageous in terms of charging characteristics and flowability.
To overcome the above disadvantages of the first type of methods, the second type of methods for the production of spherical toner particles based on polymerization has been proposed. It is known that the second type of methods can be carried out by emulsion polymerization/aggregation and suspension polymerization. According to emulsion polymerization, the size distribution of particles is difficult to control and the reproducibility of toner quality remains problematic. For these reasons, suspension polymerization is employed in preference to emulsion polymerization.
Polymerized toner cores prepared by suspension polymerization have improved fixability due to the presence of a wax therein. In view of the recent trend toward high printing speed and low fixing temperatures in an effort to reduce energy consumption, the use of general waxes in polymerized toners makes it difficult to expect sufficiently improved fixability of the polymerized toners.